Post Date April, 15 2023
A research team from the Caroline School of Medicine in Sweden released a report on the 2nd that a gene that affects brain activity may prompt men to be unwilling to get married, more likely to have family problems and even divorce after marriage.
This is the first time in the academic community that male attitudes towards emotions and marriage are directly linked to genes.
A prodigal son is born
This study was led by behavioral geneticist Hasser Vallen and focused on 552 Swedish twin brothers and their long-term partners.
The research team analyzed the blood samples of these men and carefully analyzed the gene "vasopressin receptor 1a". This gene affects the receptor for vasopressin, a hormone secreted by the hypothalamus. Research has found that a variant of this gene, the 334 allele, is related to whether men can establish intimate relationships with their partners.
Men with two copies of this allele were twice as likely to experience marital crisis last year compared to men without or with only one copy. Men with one or two copies of this allele had lower marital satisfaction compared to men without it
The research report of this team was published in the Journal of the National Academy of Sciences on the 2nd. The report states: "Among men without this allele, 20% experience marital crisis, while men with two such alleles have a year-on-year increase of 34%. Among men with at least one such allele, 30% are unmarried, while men without this allele have a year-on-year increase of 17%
Predictive disputes
Indeed, multiple reasons can lead to emotional problems in a person, but this is the first time a specific genetic variant has been associated with 'how men treat their partners', "Vallen stated
He said they were inspired by research on voles and began this study.
In 2004, American scientists found that due to different variants of the leaf vasopressin receptor 1a gene, male prairie voles have high levels of the posterior leaf vasopressin receptor and are loyal to their spouses.
Its close relative male meadow voles have fewer receptors for this hormone and tend to prefer the new to the old. But after artificially raising the levels of this hormone receptor in the meadow vole's body, it began to be loyal to its only mate.
Vallen said he thought, 'Perhaps this gene also has an impact on people,' so he began the investigation. Due to research showing that vasopressin has a greater impact on men than on women, they mainly focused on men as their research subjects, and thus reached the above conclusion.
The Washington Post reported that this discovery raises a hypothesis: Do you want to marry him? First, check his genes. Some scientists call this discovery unusual, but do not agree with using genetic information to determine personal love and marriage.
Vallen also emphasized that this genetic influence is limited and cannot be used to predict individual behavior in real life.
Improvement after tomorrow
Vallen said that this phenomenon still requires extensive research and he hopes to test more unmarried men.
Helen Fischer, a biological anthropologist at Rutgers University in the United States, focuses on "love" as his research direction. She said that if this gene does have such an impact, "it means that some people have more confidence when they embark on the path of marriage. But just like a good drinker can give up binge drinking, no one says that biology (genetics) can determine fate
She used herself as an example to say that even if she knew that the man she liked had this genetic variant, she would not refuse him as a partner.
She pointed out that although the research results of the Vallen team cannot be 'pre planned', they can help 'make up for the shortcomings'.
This genetic information can help couples in many ways. Knowing the existence of this deficiency can help them overcome it, "she said.
